Why Manufactured Homes Are an Affordable Alternative to Traditional Housing
With ultra-high housing prices and a severe lack of available single-family homes for sale, many Americans feel they have little chance of buying a house now or in the future. A large segment of the U.S. population has given up on the dream of owning a home.
Additionally, rent prices in many locations for single-family homes, condos, townhomes and apartments continue to rise at a significant pace year over year. At the end of 2020, CoreLogic, a leading real-estate analytics provider, reported rents for lower-end properties rose 3.3 percent in Dec. 2020 compared to the year prior and rents for higher-end properties rose 4.3 percent during that same period.
For Americans who live in more expensive regions of the country like California, buying or renting a high-quality, affordable home isn’t always an option financially. Also, many of these same consumers believe they have few choices when it comes to buying or renting a nice home.
Fortunately, many affordable, quality alternative housing options do exist, and those options are abundant.
In this article, we will discuss why you should consider one such choice — financing a mobile, manufactured or modular home as an affordable alternative to traditional housing.
Eliminating the Social Stigma of Manufactured Homes
When people think of a mobile home, they often envision a metal house sitting atop several rows of axles with wheels in a small trailer park. Others might think mobile homes are only for extremely low-income families who are temporarily living in “trailers.” The common stereotypes of mobile homes and people living in mobile homes are endless.
Fortunately, the images and stereotypes are just assumptions. The truth is mobile and manufactured homes play a crucial role in the affordability and stability of the U.S. housing market.
Additionally, mobile homes available in California are far from the typical image of a “metal house on wheels.” Most of the available manufactured homes currently for sale or rent today are durable, sturdy and offer an array of aesthetically pleasing options.
Some offer porches, patios and high-end amenities such as vaulted ceilings, granite countertops, sleek flooring, highly functional kitchens and polished fixtures.
And, you don’t need to buy a brand new mobile home off the manufacturer’s showroom floor to get these amenities. Many used mobile and manufactured homes offer plenty of the same amenities you’ll find on a new model.
Here’s a little food for thought — The vast majority of manufactured homes you see in circulation today are built with the same lumber and materials as many of the site-built single-family homes currently for sale.
A Host of Financing Options
You may be surprised to learn there are far more manufactured housing financing options than you think. And, many of the programs available feature low interest rates, favorable terms, low or no down payment requirements and competitively low closing costs.
Talk to one of our representatives today to learn more about our low-interest, low closing cost, low down payment mobile home loan programs for in-park and on-land models.
Additionally, government-backed enterprises and agencies offer loan programs specifically for mobile homes, and many of these programs feature low rates and down payment requirements. Here are a few of the agencies you might be familiar with offering manufactured home loan programs:
FHA
The Federal Housing Administration is a government agency whose goal is to provide housing options to low and moderate-income Americans who typically can’t afford housing through private lending channels.
Although many Americans think the FHA only insures traditional housing, the agency in fact offers programs specifically for manufactured housing. The FHA Title I program helps Americans finance manufactured homes whether they are attached or unattached to a piece of land.
The traditional Title II FHA program requires that the manufactured home is attached permanently to a piece of land, and it must be taxed as real estate and not personal property.
Both programs have specific requirements you must meet, which you can learn more about at HUD.gov or https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/housing/sfh/title/repair for financing manufactured homes.
The Department of Veteran’s Affairs and the United States Department of Agriculture also offer affordable manufactured home loan programs with reasonable terms for veterans and low-income Americans.
Reach out to one of our representatives today to learn more about manufactured home loans from the VA and the USDA.
Fannie Mae
Fannie Mae, one of the two government-sponsored enterprises that help keep the housing market liquid by buying mortgages directly from lenders, offers manufactured home loan programs with low rates, low down payment requirements and reasonable terms.
Fannie Mae’s MH Advantage- The MH Advantage home loan program offers affordable financing to people who want to achieve homeownership by buying a manufactured home. Down payments are as low as 3 percent with no income limits and credit scores as low as 620. LTVs can go as high as 97 percent for fixed-rate mortgages and 95 percent for adjustable-rate mortgages.
Manufactured Home Affordability
Each year, thousands of Americans spend more than they can afford on a home purchase. What’s worse, many of these people don’t realize they can’t afford their house until months after they signed the final paperwork.
According to the St. Louis Federal Reserve, the median price of a single-family home was $347,500 for Q1 2021. In high-cost locations such as Northern California, the median price is much higher.
Compare that with the average price of a manufactured home, which was $88,200 as of Aug. 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau reported by U.S. News and World Report.
The bottom line is the path to homeownership is much easier to achieve when you purchase a manufactured home. The money you’ll save is substantial, and the quality build of most single-wide, double-wide and triple-wide homes today means you won’t sacrifice much in the way of square feet, floor space and amenities.
Discover how you can achieve the dream of homeownership when you buy a quality manufactured or modular home by speaking to one of our experienced and dedicated staff members or applying for a mobile home loan today.
